KAPIL'S JOURNEY

P. Capildeo July 2003.
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FREEDOM

However, Kapil's dreams were not entirely shattered nor beyond fulfilment as he would have believed. He was chosen, perhaps because of his high caste and education to be freed from this life of despair and degradation. Chosen by the Bengali sirdar Gobinda as a suitable match for his 15 year old daughter Soogee.
Gobinda needed an educated, trustworthy man to run a general shop for him, and a husband of proper background for his wife Soogee. In Kapil he found both. The sex ratio in Trinidad among Indian immigrants at this time was disparate; male immigrants outnumbered females. Gobinda would have probably been able to choose from various suitors. Caste was one factor in his choice: the Brahmin was distinct; only those of higher caste carried surnames and Kapil's - Dubey* was one of the few surnames to come to Trinidad. Furthermore, children took the caste of their father and for Gobinda this would have been an important consideration. He may have chosen Kapil not only because of his caste and education, but maybe out of pity for the young man. Perhaps in Kapil he saw potential he did not see in others.
So one day while Kapil was miserably working in the animal pens, Gobinda proposed that he would buy Kapil's freedom from the indentureship contract and that in exchange that Kapil would marry Soogee. Kapil, who must have been eager to be free from such a lowly occupation agreed. Gobinda paid the government ten pounds, five shillings and the annual tax due for indentured immigrants and so Kapil was freed.
Kapil and Soogee were married and set up shop on the site which today is the home of the Lion House. They prospered. And they were not alone. By 1890 Indians in Trinidad owned 35 844 acres of land and 2408 houses*. The occupation of the shopkeeper gave Kapil and his wife an exclusive economic status; for in 1891 a census found only 665 Indian shopkeepers as opposed to 38 889 Indian agricultural labourers*. Shopkeeping was a step up the social and economic ladder, an occupation "auxiliary to plantation life" that provided the means to prosperity*.
One must not underestimate the abilities of Kapil's wife Soogee. In a different time, Gobinda would have been able to leave the shop in her capable hands. For soon after her marriage to Kapil she began to run the shop, when not bearing children. Kapil, set free of such burdens, dutifully followed the vocation of his father and ancestors. He began to practise as a pundit. Kapil ministered to the Hindus of Chaguanas and the neighbouring villages. Short and stout, pious and resolute, Kapil soon earned for himself the title of "Pundit of Chaguanas"*.
The practice of Hinduism in Trinidad was different from that in India. It was no longer the exclusive preserve of those of the brahmin caste; the services of the pundits were rendered to all regardless of caste*. By beginning to practise as a pundit, Kapil filled a spiritual and cultural lacuna in the lives of the Hindu indentured immigrants. Without his family or fellow villagers nearby, the average immigrant was bereft of support, working alongside strangers from different parts of India. The rigours of plantation life in the strange land of Chinitat would have taken their toll. So the indentured immigrant out of sentiment and desperation, turned to his religion, his one link back to India that travelled with him, for consolation. The average immigrant in Trinidad would have been uneducated and ignorant of all but the basic tenets of Hinduism. Illiteracy would have denied understanding of the great spiritual texts. But now in Trinidad the caste bar was gone and pundits through public prayers would have ensured that Hinduism was accessible to all. Singh posits that: "once out of the grip of the indentureship system, the Brahman was able to reassert his monopoly of ritualistic functions, which were needed by the Indian community to meet the life crises of birth, marriage and death. Thus he re-emerged from the indentureship experience with much of his previous status intact"*.
The education and public position of the pundit would have made him a spiritual leader; one who provided consolation and support amid so much strife. Kapil performed puja * both privately and publicly, giving readings from the sacred texts and so kept the Hindus spiritually close to the Hindu India they had left far behind. Kapil's prominence secured his participation in the panchayat * that was convened bi-annually to formulate an opinion on religious and political matters. The Indians in Trinidad at this time were without leaders and so the pundits as educated men deigned it their responsibility to give an opinion on matters that affected the Indian population. One such panchayat was called in December 1919 concerning the flogging to death of an Indian immigrant on Kapil's former estate, the Woodford Lodge Estate*. This was Kapil's first involvement in political decision - making. It set a precedent for his sons to follow; for they both would become politicians who dared to threaten the status quo.
Kapil's family thrived as the mantle of success descended upon Kapil's shoulders. Soogee and Kapil had fourteen children together, of which nine girls and two boys survived. Financial success enabled Kapil in 1924 - 1926 to build the Lion House as a shop and residence for his family. Kapil at that time would have been unaware of the contribution he was making to the architectural heritage of Trinidad and Tobago. He would have wanted to put up a structure that reflected his wealth and status in Chaguanas; that symbolised the pundit's role as spiritual link back to India. So he built the Lion House in Indian architectural style - a reflection of his homeland in contrast to the colonial church and estate houses of Chaguanas. Perhaps Kapil erected those famous lions, while reminiscing about the lions of Sarnath*, a sculpture in U.P.'s capital dating from the 3rd century B.C. And crafted a murti* of Kach Chchapa* over the main door of the Lion House to symbolise that the indentured Indian immigrant could emerge from the kala pani* onto the island of Trinidad and create a new life.
Yet Kapil remained close to his home in India. Kapil returned four times to his homeland of India, with the aid of his newfound wealth. His fourth visit, however, after the completion of the Lion House in 1926 was his last. In 1926, at the age of 53, Kapil succumbed to a mysterious stomach illness; leaving behind his wife and young children to mourn to him. The irony of his death is that Kapil never got to live in the building for which he became famous. Despite his untimely death Kapil's legacy is not forgotten. The villagers of Mahadevadubey know Kapil as the man who dared to exchange the security of life there for the dangers of the unknown new world: the man who made barra paisa*. Trinidad knows Kapil as founder of the Lion House, and a dynasty that dominated Trinidad in politics, literature and academia.


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P. Capildeo July 2003.
The author asserts the right of copyright. It is a term of viewing this website that the navigator will not reproduce in any manner or form information contained within. By navigating this website the navigator is deemed to have consented to this term. Reproduction of the verbal or pictorial content of this website from any source without permission from the author infringes copyright law and will be prosecuted.

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*62 J.C. Jha, The Indian Heritage in Trinidad, page 11 in "Calcutta to Caroni".
*63 Tikasingh "The Establishment of the Indians in Trinidad" pages 175, 176.
*64 K.O. Laurence, Indian Settlers in Trinidad before 1900, pages 110, 111 in "Calcutta to Caroni".
*65 Kelvin Singh, Indians and the Larger Society, page 46 in "Calcutta to Caroni".
*66 De Verteuil, page 109.
*67 Vertovec, Across the Dark Waters Ethnicity and Indian Identity in the Caribbean, page 120.
*68 Kelvin Singh, Indians and the Larger Society, page 41 in "Calcutta to Caroni".
*69 A Hindu Prayer Ritual.
*70 A council of elders - usually pundits.
*71 De Verteuil, page 143.
*72 The lions of Sarnath were chosen in 1945 as India's national emblem. Sarnath is famous for being the place where Buddha gave his first sermon.
*73 Statue or idol in Hindi.
*74 The second incarnation of Vishnu. A God in a tortoise shell embodying the emergence of life from water onto the land.
*75 This means dark water or sea in Hindi. The crossing of the sea to Trinidad was regarded with much suspicion. Immigrants feared terrible things would happen when crossing the dark sea.
*76 This means a lot of money in Hindi. Naipaul An Area of Darkness Chapter 11. A different account of Kapil's time in Trinidad is given in this book by Jussodra, an immigrant to Trinidad who returned to Kapil's village.